Bishop Blase J. Cupich of Spokane, Wash., speaks April 4 at Marquette University Law School

WASHINGTON (CNS)—When the U.S. bishops meet in Seattle in June, they
will review implementation of the "Charter for the Protection of
Children and Young People" nearly 10 years after its 2002 passage.

They also will look at "whether there was some sort of the breakdown of
the system" that prompted the abuse-related investigation of more than
two dozen priests in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, said Bishop Blase
J. Cupich of Spokane, Wash.

"I'm confident that the dioceses are doing their work and that the
situation Philadelphia is facing -- removing such a large number of
priests, the circumstances under which that occurred," is an aberration,
the chairman of the U.S. bishops' Committee for the Protection of
Children and Young People said in an April 15 telephone interview with
Catholic News Service.

"We have to wait to see exactly what happened in Philadelphia," he said.

Two priests, a former priest and a former Catholic schoolteacher entered
pleas of not guilty in Philadelphia April 15 to charges that included
child rape. Another priest who had been in charge of assigning those and
other priests pled not guilty to child endangerment. In all, 26 priests
have been placed on administrative leave pending an independent
investigation of child sex abuse allegations against them following the
Feb. 10 release of a Philadelphia grand jury report.

Cardinal Justin Rigali of Philadelphia and other archdiocesan officials
have stressed that placing them on leave is an interim measure and not a
final determination or judgment.

Bishop Cupich has been involved in the U.S. bishops' efforts against
child sex abuse from the beginning, as a member since 2002 of what was
first called the Ad Hoc Committee on Sexual Abuse and its chairman since
2008.

He said the bishops' actions in Seattle will be "not so much doing a
review as going back to our principal motivations in crafting the
charter."

"Well over 100 bishops have been ordained (in the United States) since
2002, so we want to make sure they are prepared and understand what the
motivations were that we had," Bishop Cupich added.

Chief among those motivations is the need to cultivate "close visceral
connections with the victims" and to "never lose touch of the ongoing
need for healing," he said.

Bishop Cupich spoke during National Child Abuse Prevention Month and a
few days after the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops released the
results of audits detailing diocesan compliance with the charter.
Released with it was a statistical survey by the Center for Applied
Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University showing the number
of credible allegations of child abuse against U.S. clergy and the costs
associated with that abuse.

The CARA survey found that there were seven new credible allegations of
sexual abuse of minors by priests during 2010. Another 498 new
allegations were made during the year, but the vast majority of those
were alleged to have occurred between 1960 and 1984.

"Any organization that deals with the number of youths that we do is
always going to be vulnerable in some way to a violation of its code of
conduct," Bishop Cupich said. "But when you think about how many kids we
come across on a daily basis," the number of abuse allegations made "is
relatively very miniscule," he added.

It's also worth noting, the bishop said, that the Catholic Church is
"the only organization that provides such a report." Other organizations
that serve large numbers of children and young people might not have
"ways that such information is accumulated, much less reported," he
said, adding that the bishops hope their actions will challenge others
to publicize the steps they are taking to protect children.

He said full participation in the survey and audits was expected of all
bishops. The dioceses of Lincoln, Neb., and Baker, Ore., and five
Eastern Catholic eparchies declined to participate in the audits for
2010; only the Lincoln Diocese refused to participate in the CARA
survey.

Efforts have been made to help the eparchies, which are generally
"spread all over the place and very tiny," with the data collection
needed for the audits, Bishop Cupich said.
"We are going to be judged by the worst handling, not the best," he
said. "We have a responsibility to one another. The audits are part of
what we are doing and everyone should be involved."

Asked how his work with the bishops' committee has changed over the past
decade, Bishop Cupich said the biggest change has been the expansion of
"the circle of people involved in this effort" -- from the bishops to
lay advisers on the National Review Board and researchers at the John
Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York to diocesan personnel and
parish and school staff members who have participated in safe
environment training.

"I've seen a great amount of growth in people taking care of victims,"
he said. "On any given day, there are at least 1,000 people in the
church doing something."

One thing the bishops have learned is "we can't do this alone," Bishop
Cupich said. "We need to come together and cooperate and unify our
efforts as adults. Our kids deserve nothing less than that."

Editor's Note: John Feister, editor of St. Anthony Messenger, interviewed Bishop Cupich about the Dallas charter at the Marquette University Restorative Justice conference. The interview can be seen here.